The Baili razor shown is called the “Victor” by Baili itself, but a better designation might be the product code: BR171 for silver (as shown) or BR173 for gold. I bought this from Italian Barber, who calls it the RazoRock DE1 and sells it for $7. You can also find it on eBay—e.g., this listing includes a nice case:
I personally don’t see that the little box is worth $15, even though it does have a mirror.
The razor has excellent heft, to the point that I thought it might be brass (and one description says that it is made of “a copper alloy,” which would apply to brass). Whatever it is, it’s very nicely plated and finished. Blade alignment is used by securing the four corners of the blade in place: no alignment studs or alignment bar, just the corner brackets. That said, the blade was easily loaded and well secured, and alignment was fine.
I also got the Baili “Vintage” (their name for the razor, which has product codes BR191 (silver) and BR192 (gold)), which Italian Barber calls the RazoRock Teck II ($8). The head of the Teck II is the same as the head of the DE1. (I saw one example in my searches in which someone had used a gold baseplate with silver cap and handle, which looked pretty spiffy.)
I’ve already reviewed the Baili butterfly razor: BR179 (silver), BR178 (gun metal), and BR177 (gold). Italian Barber sells the BR179 as the RazoRock Quick-Change DE safety razor ($10). The butterfly razor is quite well made with a smooth action and has the same good heft as the others. It was just as comfortable as the Teck II/DE1 but not quite as efficient. It was, however, noticeably more efficient than the Weishi/Van Der Hagen/Micro One Touch and would be a better starter razor for the novice who wants a butterfly razor (though I personally would recommend a three-piece razor).
First, of course, I did my prep, using my Simpson Persian Jar 2 Super and my treasured vintage Lenthéric shaving soap, which still has a wonderful fragrance though it is from the 1970s.
The razor is excellent: very comfortable and quite efficient, and given its low price (at least from Italian Barber and probably from other dealers) would make an excellent first razor for someone who wants to try DE shaving. I had no trouble at all in getting a BBS result with no problems.
I just learned that one can find vintage fragrances on eBay, and so I went looking for something that match the fragrance of the soap. (I am comfortable using a little splash of an EDT or cologne as an aftershave). I found Tweed, and it does smell good, but my nose is such a blunt instrument that I cannot really tell whether the two fragrances are the same. Embarrassing but true. They both smell quite nice, and the EDT is stronger, as you might expect.
Filed under: Shaving
